interview with
Filip from German ZERRFLETER zine published in summer 2002
1) Hi Filip, you are doing the zine Hluboka Orba and not just since yesterday. How long does the zine exist and how many issues have you released? How many copies each?
Ehhhh.... nice effort from your side
Daniel, but why the fuck did you choose to make an interview with somebody
doing the zine nobody outside Czech/Slovakia can read at all? Is there anybody
interested? Well... I started the zine back in summer 93 (I remember selling it
for the first time on AGATHOCLES / FH-72 / SELFISH gig). Back then I did around
200 copies, now the last issue had 750 copies of print run. As I already told,
the zine is written in Czech language and considering the fact that only 15
million of people can read it, I find it a pretty decent number of print run..
Also considering the fact that the zine always stayed away from trendy bullshit
(no pop punk, no macho metal core, no post HC emo indie shit etc.) and kept it’s d.i.y. profile... And we still don’t
review CD’s {I am not into discussing this issue here, let’s just say that I
want to support vinyl + tapes as much as possible as the truest punk format.
Enough said}.
2) What was the reason for you to start the zine? Where there any typical starting problems, is there anything you remember quite well?
I am not sure - it was always something
which I enjoyed a lot, it’s great possibility for self-expression and for doing
something constructive. I also like the visual outlook of it and I like the
layouting of zine - so it’s kind of artistic {huh!} expression as well. And not
to forget the contact with people all over the globe - that’s quite important aspect. Let’s just say
that I love the music and feel that there are some things which need to be
covered in different than the mainstream cover it - I am speaking about various
social, ecological or political issues.
I don’t remember any serious starting
problems as I already did a zine before {between 91-92 we put out here in Brno
zine which was more collective work, we did 4 issues of it, back then there was
something like anarcho-punk group which we started and except zine we did
demos, gigs etc.}, so I had some experiences when I decided to start my own
back then.
I would say the more energy/work/dedication you give the less problems you
usually encounter, at least that was my case. I should also state that I was
quite {and still I am} influenced by great zines such as No Sanctuary
{Switzerland 92-96}, Maximum R’n’R, Heartattack, Poser Punk {Finland 96-98},
Engine, Alternative {Switzerland 89-91}, Monkeybite, Ripping Thrash, Hell And
Damnation, Green Anarchist, EF! Journal, Riot, Profane Existence... These were
/ are some of the main sources of inspiration for creating my zine. Plus
ofcourse old Czechoslovakian zines from early 90’s whose names wouldn’t tell
you anything at all.
3) I know I already asked you a few times about this but please explain once more (for the last time…): what does Hluboka Orba mean and how did the name come up?
Yes, yes... HLUBOKA ORBA means something
like “deep grinding:” it used to be local “punk dialect” describing some hard
and brutal music. As you can see nothing too interesting or overtly political,
just stupid name. It is also name associated with agriculture over here, so
it’s a bit confusing for somebody who don’t know about the content of the zine.
Stupid name, but I like it. It also looks nice in the articles about left wing
extremism written by or for the Ministry of Inferior over here.
4) About distributing your zine: do you trade a lot or do people buy most of them? Do you get back the money you put in each issue? Were there already some bad experiences by getting ripped off?
All over the years I managed to built
pretty effective and stable distribution system. In the last few years there
are more people cooperating on the zine {writing columns, reviews etc.} and
most of them gave me just shortly before releasing new issue some money
{equaling mostly 40 or 50 copies} and then I will give them back the zine and
they distribute it in their own area. I almost stopped the trading of the zine
as I don’t run distribution {there are already enough good distros in Czech so I saw no point in doing it when I have
lots of other things to do}, so I trade only when I want some records for my
collection.
I am kind of lucky because H.O. is longest
running zine here in Czech and also one of the very few with frequent schedule
{2 times in a year} so I have lots of good contacts on reliable people and lots
of people are interested to read it {not only in Czech, but also in Slovakia}.
I usually run out of all the copies within 3 months. I also hardly remember
last time somebody ripped me off, this stuff happens only very rarely {maybe
one or two times in the whole history of doing this zine} - this is small scene
and everybody knows everybody so it is not easy to pull out this kind of shit.
5) About the content: what do you look at when you chose to interview a band for the zine? Is the zine orientated on a special style of (HC) music? Which stuff would you generally refuse to put in?
Well, I get some complaining from time to
time because some people feel like the zine is discriminating certain styles of
HC/punk. I would argue that it has more to do with their quality or business
practises than actually with their style itself. I like to listen lots of
various genres of punk - from THE CLASH to 7 MINUTES OF NAUSEA, but the band
must have some energy or groove or how the fuck to name it. On the other side
there are some styles I definitely don’t like almost at all {I guess I already
named them in the first question}, so I tried to find some people who are more
into them when we get them for example for review. But as far as the most
important content of the zine goes, I ofcourse prefer the bands/styles I like -
that’s the part of the philosophy behind the zine - I do it, because that’s
what I like and nobody will force me to write about the shit I am not into. The
zine like this is not for everybody and when someone doesn’t like it, he or she
can start the own one.
Some of the bands interviewed in last years few years were
CAPITALIST CASUALTIES, EBOLA {uk}, SEEIN RED - by the way some of the longest
interviews you would ever see - more than 10 pages each - CRIPPLE BASTARDS,
COCKROACH, ORCHID, LOCUST, ANTICHRIST, DS 13, AGATHOCLES, LIES AND DISTRUST,
MINDLOCK, THE PUBLIC, KONSTRUKT, ASMODINAS LEICHENHAUS, SPAZZ, MALIGNANT
TUMOUR... Almost each time all pretty long and indepth interviews. I also like
to interview people behind labels - Ken from Prank Records, Fred from Darbouka
Records and Pablo from Stronly Opposed were interviewed for example too. In
general I want to talk with people who have something interesting to say and I
try to think hard over the questions instead of rehashing the same 10 boring
questions each time. There are also musical/political scene reports from
various cities all over the globe printed, which is pretty interesting and it
helps to make the new contacts totally - there were cities from countries like
Latvia, Croatia, Peru, Colombia, Greece, Mexico or Russia {also Berlin scene
report - you know!}. Another regular feature are the tour reports not only of
my band but also of other Czech bands - I personally like to read tour reports
a lot and I think that the bizarre world of punk touring is quite cool read
even for people not interesting in the music at all.
I of course refuse to write about any
major label crap and as about the “no racist, fascist etc. material” policy I
guess that’s pretty obvious. I think that H.O. is pretty long running zine and
the people usually know clearly what to expect so the crap stays away.
Well you can see from the band names
listed above in which style of hardcore/punk is Hluboka Orba interested most -
I also think there is no need for even one fucking more zine covering BOY SETS
FIRE, SICK OF IT ALL, AT THE DRIVE IN and NO FX - the most usual feature in
German and American zines I am witnessing.
6) What about the relation between music- and non-music articles/interviews etc.? Do you also write political articles or is it other people who are doing this for Hluboka Orba?
I think it is half/half, atleast I try to
keep this balance. I think that the various political topics need to be dealt
with good care and far behind the typical punk sloganeering or usual far
leftist dogma. Also it need to be dealt in understandable way in the same time
- not the dry academic one. Since issue 18 there are special themes for each
issue, one time musical one, another time political, so far there were covered
the aspects of veganism {consisting from long interview with various long time
vegans + recommended reading}, mass media {several different articles mostly
translations from foreign sources + interview with the former editor of VOKNO -
an underground zine back from the communist times}and the whole translation of
“Voices of the New American Left” from Punk Planet zine {interviews with
various activists from antiglobalisation movement, also with Jello Biafra and
Noam Chomsky}. I think that these issues were covered pretty cool and the
reactions to them were quite positive. There’s also lots of politics in the
columns, we also do reviews of most of anarchist or radical ecological
literature which is put out recently over here. Another highly political stuff
was the interview with several yugoslavian punx done shortly after the bombing.
Also the Berlin 96 and Leipzig 98 1st May Day riots were eye
witnessed and covered and Gorleben 96 as well...
One of the most funny things we printed
ever was the translation of “Christian Corner” {if you read MRR then you know
what I am talking about}- it’s fake column written by “right wing
fundamentalist Christian” to educate the punx. To my surprise lots of people
believed it and probably still believe that it’s for real...
7) How many people are involved in the zine?
There are around 10 people involved. I am
the main person coordinating all the
shitwork, doing all the usual stuff (layout, dealing with printers, handling
most of the distribution etc.), but there are these good and reliable friends
of mine who are helping with writing the columns, reviews, sometimes doing
interviews and donating the money. It is cool that they are mostly people
active in some of the best Czech hardcore bands or distros like Iny/GRIDE,
Ales/MINDLOCK, Steby/PANGS OF REMORSE, Barvak/Insane Society Records,
Milan/BALACLAVA, Lubos/SOT RECORDS, Katka/INSTINCT DISTRO etc. Also SEE YOU IN
HELL’s singer Jozka is cooperating on the zine a lot. Without these people’s it
would be pretty hard to continue with the zine, I am really glad that they take
part in it. I guess it’s also much more interesting to read something like this
where more people give their opinions or writing style - it’s really a
cooperative effort.
8) Do you have the opportunity to get a cheap printing or do you go to the copy shop?
Since the first issue I do the zine in
printing company, but it is not offset-print technology, it is something like
cheaper xerox or something like it. I am quite satisfied with it, I can still
do the zine in classic “cut and paste” way and it doesn’t cost too much. Well, it costs {one
issue = equivalent of my 2 months salary}, but that’s no big problem so far.
9) Besides the zine you are involved also in other things. What is going on in your life considering scene-activities and also non-scene stuff?
I play guitar in band called SEE YOU IN
HELL, before (94-2000) I used to play in MRTVA BUDOUCNOST. With SEE YOU we have
demo, split 7” and full 7” out, we also played few gigs in Germany, most
recently in March on our Czech/German/Dutch tour together with GRIDE. We will
play 2 gigs in eastern part of your country again for sure 31.8. on Para Ryo
fest (near Cottbus/Görlitz). Also we just changed the drummer... Musically I
think we can be labelled as dark brutal hardcore or something like it... I am
usually booking gigs/tours for SEE YOU IN HELL and also handle the releasing of
our stuff (both our records were released in cooperation of more labels
coordinated by myself) etc. I also do lots of trades over the globe, I like
trading a lot, for sure great way to get stuff
for your collection also more interesting for me than simply buying it
in distro or shop. So the zine and the band are my main “scene activities”
taking up most of my free time. I don’t have much time or interest left for
“non scene” stuff, I am trapped in this hardcore/punk shit since I was 14 years
old this is the environment where I feel best. Apart from a bit of gardening
{soy not oi!} that’s really all I do.
10) Do you go to work, studie or anything like that? What about living on the dole/social money in Czech?
I work in social-ecological movement
called NESEHNUTI before I was on the dole for 6 months - it was cool, but you
can get the unemployment support over here for half an year only. Then I
applied for the grant for our organisation and we were successful so the
unemployment office is donating each month a certain sum of money to us to pay my salary. This support
will end up soon, hopefully we will be lucky in getting funds from some other
sources.
I was one of the founding members of our
organisation {it means “Independent Social Ecological Movement” in English}
back in 97 and I really like this work - even it brings lots of responsibility
and troubles from time to time. We are based on voluntary work, there are only
2 paid people in organisation of around 50. We have groups also outside of Brno,
6 in total. We operate in 3 main areas - human rights {f.e. we organise each
year big festival called “One World” with documentaries about human rights
abuse, we did protests against the arm trade, against Russian aggression in
Chechnya etc.}, environment protection {big issue is the massive gigantic
shopping malls development or various transport problems in Brno} and animal
rights {we mostly print leaflets in editions of tens of thousands copies and
spread them around, few times in a years we also do free vegan meal give aways
in the city centre, also we started Food Not Bombs group recently}.
We are not the typical anarchist/left-wing
group, of course we have political beliefs {decentralisation, localisation
etc.}, but we don’t feel the need to restrict ourselves with ideological
dogmas. This way we are able to reach regular people as well and I am quite
happy to get often surprised to find quite radical people also out of the usual
punk/left-wing ghetto. Also our funding is not very “anarchist” as we usually
apply for the grants to foundations paid from EU sources or to Czech Ministry
of environment, but there are no other possibilities how to fund these kind of
activities if you want to do them properly in Czech. Lots of things you have
totally for granted in Germany - even the simple shit like having the cycling
paths - are hard to get here in Czech and without the pressure of the active
people in ecological groups I don’t think the politicians would be into doing
them ourselves. I don’t care about getting the shit from people calling us
“part of the system” - I saw too much so called radicals turning to conformist
citizens or apolitical skinheads to give a fuck about these complains.
11) The other day I had a conversation with someone who said that all people who don´t drink (alcohol) or smoke are automatically ”straight edge”. In my opinion there is more behind this ”SxE label”, it has also something to do with attitude/consciousness about it (don´t care if the attitude is bullshit or not at the moment, just consider there is one). As you are also a non-drinker and non-smoker I delegate this question to you. Do you consider yourself as ”straight edge” due to the fact you don´t drink and smoke?
Yes, I consider myself S.E. but I hope I
don’t make too big issue out of it. I find S.E. as a movement within the punk
scene spreading the message that you don’t have to drink alcohol, smoke or use
the other drugs to have a good time or to get accepted. I don’ t do these
things, I can’t find a reason for doing them, quite in contrary - for example
smoking of cigarettes is one of the most stupid things I can imagine. I think
S.E. is not an end itself - more it is something like way how to live your life
better, without poisoning your body. But each to his own, I really don’t care
if anybody is S.E. or not and I can’t identify with most of today S.E.
subdivisions like vegan metal of EARTH CRISIS and shit like this or the hundred
times rehashed 88 style revival. I just think there are better things to do
then to party each fucking day and I don’t associate punk with excessive
alcohol or drug consumption - there’s nothing rebellious in it, in fact it
keeps people down and pacified. And even the biggest drunk can’t ignore the
killer quality of MINOR THREAT, SS DECONTROL or 7 SECONDS - can he?
12) Thanx a lot and this is the famous last opportunity to drop some comments on anything in the world. Here you go:
Well, big thanx goes to you! I don’t know
if this interview makes a sense to anybody maybe we should have talk more about
the situation in Czech, about Czech punk scene or whatever... I think that’s
cool opportunity here to say that I always liked the HC / punk / squatting /
radical political movement in Germany - and each visit in your country inspired
me. I think that speaking about the hospitality in treatment of touring bands
the Germany is number one in the Europe - I had enough of good experiences with
both my bands, there were often cool people ready to help and taking care of
us. Also the autonomous places / squats / Jugendzentren network is just amazing
- that’s something you will never find in country like Czech. I guess the
people in Germany are ready to put lots of their energy, time and efforts in
creating something like this - I still can’t believe that you have something
like one youth centre in every second fucking village, while over here there
are just 2 squats in Prag and one punk club in Roznov pod Radhostem {but great
one!}. Ofcourse I know that you have it slightly better with long tradition of
struggle for this and you also operate in better political environment {even
you will hardly admit it}, but I am sure it takes lots of people’s initiative
as well. Places like Zoro in Leipzig or Kopi in Berlin are just amazing. I am
also happy to witness the last glorious days of Kreuzberg in early 90’s - big
shame that this once radical quarter is turning in grey concrete - steel mess
for yuppies and government officials.
OK, to cut this short - greetings to all
our German friends, thanx to everybody who helped us with gigs/tours {Sebastian
from Geithein, Wahnfried from Chemiefabrik Dresden, Zoro and Kopi people,
Heikko + Stemwede farm punx etc.} - greetings to other crusty demons in RACAK,
keep rocking - bye!
love letters, letter bombs, second hand
VORKRIEGSPHASE and B.G.T. records to:
NESEHNUTI
(H.O.)
UDOLNI 44
602 00 BRNO
CZECH REPUBLIC
orba@seznam.cz